Microplastics in Kuwait marine environment: Results of first survey. (March 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Saeed, Talat; Al-Jandal, Noura; Al-Mutairi, Ahmad; Taqi, Hameeda
• Is Part Of: Marine pollution bulletin. Volume 152(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-03
• Subjects: Marine plastics -- Sediments -- Coastal water -- Marine biota; Marine pollution -- Periodicals; Marine Biology -- Periodicals; Water Pollution -- Periodicals; Mer -- Pollution -- Périodiques; Publications périodiques; Pollution des mers; Lutte antipollution; Electronic journals; 363.7394
• DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110880
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0025-326X

Abstract

Abstract: Microplastic pollution status in Kuwait coastal areas was assessed A total of 44 intertidal locations were sampled for beach sediment. Short trawls (40) were conducted. In addition, 87 fish and mussels gastrointestinal contents were examined. Microplastics were characterized by Raman spectroscopy. Contrary to the expectation very few microplastic particles were found. Only 37 MPs were detected in beach sediments at 15 locations. Seawater trawls indicated that MPs were low in the numbers. MPs were found in just two samples from Kuwait Bay and also in two samples from the southern areas. In biota, only 3 pieces of plastics were recovered from gastrointestinal tracks of hamour fish. The identified MPs were dominantly polypropylene, polyethylene and polystyrene. It appeared that the microplastic levels in sediment, water and biota were much lower compared to published values from adjoining areas, however, were comparable to the absolute numbers of particles from Qatar and Oman. Highlights: Low counts of microplastics found in beach sediments in Kuwait. Seawater trawls also showed low frequency of microplastics in coastal waters No microplastics were detected in the guts of clams, but detected in some fish stomachs.